It wasn’t all bad
■ Storm chaser Jonny Gabel was tracking a cyclone through the Mississippi Delta when he came upon the town of Rolling Fork just after it was leveled by the powerful tornado. He got out of his car and began rescuing trapped residents, including one family miraculously unharmed in their home’s collapse. Gabel, a professional carpenter, is now building a new home for the family, donating his own time and helping pay for the rest by raising donations. The 35-year-old calls the rebuilding “the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced.”
■ A West African lioness that researchers have been studying for years suddenly disappeared—then was caught on camera in February with a new litter of three cubs. Florence, whom researchers affectionately call Flo, is the matriarch of the lions at Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park, and one of a remaining population of West African lions estimated at 120 to 374. Habitat loss and poachers (who researchers feared had killed Flo) had driven West African lions close to extinction. But the lions are back, with the number in Niokolo-Koba park doubling in the past decade. An added bonus: Extra wildlife cameras set up to find Flo have yielded plenty of photos of the new mom and young lions.
■ In a once-in-a-decade event, an asteroid the size of a skyscraper weaved between Earth and the moon last week, narrowly avoiding both. Scientists used the rare event to gain valuable intel about future interstellar threats. NASA is already gearing up to study another asteroid, which in 2029 will nearly graze Earth’s surface at just one-tenth the distance to the moon. NASA estimates that an approach that close only occurs once every few thousand years. “It’s something that almost never happens,” said NASA engineer Davide Farnocchia. “And yet, we get to witness it in our lifetime.”